The invention relates to connection device for use in the negative pressure treatment of wounds.
The following discussion of related art is provided to assist the reader in understanding the advantages of the invention, and is not to be construed as an admission that this related art is prior art to this invention.
In the recent past, the negative pressure treatment of wounds, in particular of problematically healing wounds, has gained increasing importance. Negative pressure treatment means that a body or wound area which is exposed to the surrounding atmosphere is sealed against the environment i.e., the atmosphere in which we live and breathe, pressure tight or negative pressure tight, wherein within the sealed wound region a pressure which is lower relative to the atmospheric pressure, i.e., a negative pressure can be applied and permanently maintained. Negative pressure in the context of the field at issue here, relates to a negative pressure, which is typically between 0 and 250 mmHg (mm mercury column) below the surrounding atmospheric pressure. It has been shown that this facilitates wound healing. For the negative pressure tight sealing, a negative pressure bandage is provided, which for example can include a pressure tight—or negative pressure tight film layer, which is typically adhesively attached to an uninjured body region that surrounds the wound to achieve a tight sealing. In order to apply and maintain a negative pressure to the wound space by way of a negative pressure generating device, i.e., a vacuum pump in the broadest sense, conduits to which negative pressure can be applied can be used in the systems for negative pressure therapy at issue here, which conduits interact with the negative pressure bandage in order to apply negative pressure to or into the wound space.
DE 10 2009 060 596 A1 discloses a connection device of the aforementioned type. The conduit is attached to and fixed to the wound-averted side of the coupling body. For the negative pressure communication with the wound space, openings are provided which extend through the walling of the conduit and the coupling body. A similar connection device is known from DE 10 2010 006 272 A1 in which the conduit itself forms a coupling body in that a wound-side longitudinal end section of the conduit transitions on both sides one-piece into lateral wing sections. The one-piece configuration i.e., the production of conduit and coupling body in a single manufacturing step is extremely complicated however and therefore disadvantageous.
Further connection devices are known from DE 10 2010 006 273 A1. In this embodiment, the conduit is arranged sandwich-like between different layers, which form a coupling body toward the wound bandage and are sealingly fixed which is also cumbersome.
In WO 2009/124548 it is proposed to produce a rather cup-shaped or plate-shaped coupling body with radially extending contact areas and with a receiving section for inserting a conduit, one-piece in the injection molding method.
It would therefore be advantageous to provide an improved connection device which is reliable and can be manufactured economically and can be configured relatively flat.